TRUE JUDGMENTS THAT DISTORT THE REAL TRUTH. HOW TO ANALYZE THE TOP500?

Abstract

Each new edition of the Top500list brings various calculations and judgments, such as «Supercomputers listed in the Top500 are the most used in industry (247 of 500, 49,4 %)». It is easy to find similar calculations and judgments about Top500 in percentages: (i) percentage of different types of processors used in supercomputers; (ii) percentage of different types of interconnect; (iii) percentage of manufactures; (iv) percentage of countries, etc. Important decisions — even government decisions — are often made with reference to such calculations and judgments. This work shows that these calculations and judgments are true but seriously distort the real truth —
and mispresent the real situation in the HPC industry. In the paper, the author analyses the reasons of deep differences between «true judgments» and «the real truth». Furthermore, the paper offers an approach to a correct analysis of the Top500and the results of this analysis.